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Welcome to the updates page.
You’ll find news about the Film Minor, upcoming events, and more.
Here’s the latest:
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12/14/06
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Actor
Peter Boyles dies at age 71
There
is more sad news for fans of the films of the seventies. I knew Altman was ill,
but I did not know that Boyle was ill as well. I don’t have much to say
but I do think that Boyle (like Hackman, Nicholson, Duvall, et al.) belonged
to a unique generation of American actors. I’m struck, now thinking
about it, how many of the great leading male actors from this period were
just plain, well…plain. Not terribly ugly, but certainly not dashingly
handsome. More important, though, is that Boyle was a gifted character actor.
And he raised (for me, anyway) the status of the character actor. Or maybe he
was a product of his time. Perhaps, during the late sixties and early
seventies, the art of acting was changing anyway, and that actors were
encouraged to seek out and play characters (like “The Wizard” in Taxi Driver),
rather than become a movie star. In a lot of the films from the seventies,
even the leading roles (like Joe) seem like
characters, real characters. Anyway, I don’t have much more to say
beyond this. Everybody loves Peter. Here’s a classic clip from Mel
Brooks’s Young Frankenstein
(1974). If you’re looking for a good Peter Boyle film, check out The Candidate
(dir. Michael Ritchie, 1972). Boyle gives one of his finest performances as
political consultant Marvin Lucas.
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11/27/06
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The College of Charleston Student Film Festival Needs
YOU!
The
2nd Annual Student Film Festival is approaching faster than you think. If you
would like to help organize this exciting event (March 2007), come by ECTR
118 on Wednesday at 6:45pm to meet other volunteers. And, if you like, stick
around for this week’s installment in the ¡Cult Films! series (see
below).
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11/25/06
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The
Film Club meets this Wednesday, November 29 @ 7:00pm in Septima Clark
Auditorium (Education
Center 118)
This
week’s installment in the ¡Cult Films! series is
French New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard’s Band of Outsiders
(Bande à part, 1964). This is the story of two small-time crooks who fall for
the same girl (played by Godard’s then-wife, Anna Karina) and convince
her to pull off a crazy heist: her own house! Quentin Tarantino has expressed
his adoration for this film, which is Godard’s homage to American
B-movies. Tarantino even went so far as to name his own production company
after it (A Band Apart) and lift a scene or two from it for his own film Pulp Fiction. You won’t
want to miss this one. Join us at 7:00pm for the film. AND IF YOU WISH TO
HELP ORGANIZE IN NEXT YEAR’S STUDENT FILM
FESTIVAL, COME BY AT 6:45 TO MEET WITH OTHER VOLUNTEERS. WE NEED YOU!
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11/21/06
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Director
Robert Altman dies at age 81
One
of the great American directors of our time passed away last night. Altman leaves behind an enormously influential body of
work, including a remarkable string of great films made during the early
1970s: M*A*S*H (1970), McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971), The Long Goodbye (1973), Thieves Like Us (1974), California Split (1975), and Nashville (1975). Altman returned to
great form in the early 1990s with Vincent
and Theo (1990), The Player (1992)
and Short Cuts (1993). His most
recent work, Prarie Home Companion
is still in theaters. Altman is one of several maverick directors to emerge
at a time—the late 1960s—when Hollywood was bankrupt, both literally and
creatively. He, along with such filmmakers as Hal Ashby, Francis Ford
Coppola, Arthur Penn, Peter Bogdanovich, Robert Rafelson, Martin Scorsese,
George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg, built the New Hollywood and forever
changed both the film industry and filmmaking in America. Altman, in particular,
has directly influenced our young filmmakers, such as Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love)
and Wes Anderson (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The
Life Aquatic). Altman was awarded an honorary Oscar at this year’s
Academy Awards.
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11/17/06
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The
Film Club meets this Monday, November 20 @ 7:00pm in Septima Clark Auditorium
(Education Center 118)
This
week’s installment in the ¡Cult Films! series is Sam
Peckinpah’s grisly tale, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo
Garcia (1974). The film stars the Peckinpah alum, Warren Oates (The
Wild Bunch, Major Dundee, Ride the High Country) as Bennie,
a piano player in a grungy Mexican bar who thinks he has nothing to lose when
he agrees to a nasty deal with a powerful criminal named El Jefe: to deliver
to him the head of the man who impregnated his daughter. Bennie soon learns
he’s got a lot more to lose than he thought. Violent, relentless, and
twisted, Peckinpah’s nightmare vision of a man’s downward spiral
will leave you breathless. Join us at 7:00 pm.
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11/13/06
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Indian
Film Festival at South Windemere Cinema
Have
you heard of the Indian Big Screen festival? It’s not too late to catch
some flicks from some of India’s
more successful filmmakers at the South Windemere Cinemas.
This Friday, Saturday and Sunday (November 17-19) you can see Jaan-E-Mann (dir.
Shirish Kunder, 2006). Contact Indian
Big Screen for times.
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11/12/06
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The Film
Club meets this Wednesday, November 15 @ 7:00pm in Septima Clark Auditorium (Education Center 118)
This
week’s installment in the ¡Cult Films! series is a
documentary double feature: Atomic Café (dir.
Jayne Loder and Kevin Rafferty, 1982) and Superstar: The Karen Carpenter
Story (dir. Todd Haynes, 1987). The first is an astonishingly
funny and revealing look into the hysteria over the Bomb that engulfed
American culture after World War II. The second is by filmmaker Todd Haynes (Velvet
Goldmine, Safe) and was banned by the Mattel corporation (the
story of Karen Carpenter’s losing battle with anorexia nervosa is told
using Barbie and Ken dolls). Hilarious, touching, torturous, bizarre. An
absolute must-see. Join us at 7:00pm for this memorable cult film double
bill.
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11/3/06
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The Film
Club meets this Wednesday, November 8 @ 7:00pm in Septima Clark Auditorium (Education Center 118)
This
week’s installment in the ¡Cult Films! series is Juzo
Itami’s Tampopo
(Japan,
1985). Described, jokingly, as “The First Japanese Noodle
Western.” This is the story of a struggling noodle shop owner, named
Tampopo (Japanese for “Dandelion”), who asks seven famous chefs to
help her create the perfect noodle recipe. Sound like The Magnificent
Seven? Or maybe Seven Samurai? It should, because this film is a
delicious hybrid of genres and styles, including, of course, the American
Western and Japanese Samurai film. Be sure to join us (and bring your
chopsticks). For more info about Juzo Itami, click here.
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10/30/06
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The
Film Club does not meet this Wednesday
This
is a bi-week for the Film Club, so we are not meeting this Wednesday
(November 1). The screenings for the ¡Cult Films! series will
resume Wednesday, November 8 with Juzo Itami’s Tampopo (1985).
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10/22/06
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The
Film Club meets this Wednesday, October 25 @ 7:00pm in Septima Clark Auditorium (Education Center 118)
This
week’s installment in the ¡Cult Films! series is a
double feature of unspeakably bizarre films: Ed Wood’s Plan 9 from Outer Space
(1959), and Tod Browning’s Freaks (1932).
The first film, whose cult status was given an extra special boost with Tim
Burton’s Ed
Wood (1994) is often tauted as the “Worst Movie Ever
Made.” You be the judge. The second film in our double bill comes from
the otherwise conservative MGM studios (how did they let this one get by?),
and it features a cast of memorably menacing carnival characters, whose final
act of defiant revenge on a beautiful but avaricious trapeze artist will stay
with you forever. Join us…become one of us…ONE OF US…ONE OF
US…ONE OF US…ONE OF US…ONE OF US…!
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10/16/06
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The
Film Club meets this Wednesday, October 18 @ 7:00pm in Septima Clark Auditorium (Education
Center 118)
This
week’s installment in the ¡Cult Films! series is Jim
Jarmusch’s Mystery
Train (1989). Fetauring an eclectic ensemble of performers,
including Steve Buscemi, the late Joe Strummer (of The Clash),
Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, and Nicoletta Braschi, this film is actually
made up of multiple stories, all taking place at the same time and in the
same place: a seedy hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, not too far from the home of
Elvis. The film starts at
7:00pm in ECTR 118. As always, there will be an opportunity for informal
discussion afterwards.
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10/13/06
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Start
filming now!
The 2nd Annual Student Film
Festival is coming. The tentative date is March 28, and the deadline for
submissions will be sometime in mid-March. For more information, contact the Film Studies Program or the Student Film Club
President, Jesse Berger. You
can download a teaser flyer here.
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10/13/06
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Spring
2007 Film Courses
Registration is upon us! The following
is a list of courses offered (click on highlighted course titles for more
info):
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COURSE
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TITLE
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SCHEDULE
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INSTRUCTOR
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ARTH 293.090*
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Introduction to Film Art
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M 4:00-6:00 & W 4:00-5:00
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Cossa
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ENGL 351.001 †
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Studies in American Film: Film
Genres
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TR 1:40-2:55
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Bruns
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ENGL 351.090 †
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Studies in American Film: Film
Genres
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TR 4:00-5:15
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Bruns
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ENGL 390.001 †
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Studies in Film: Hitchcock
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M 4:00-6:45
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Bruns
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ITAL 370.001
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New Italian Cinema
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W 3:00-5:45
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DeLuca
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LTPO 270.001
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Studies in Brazilian Film
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TR 12:15-1:130
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Moreira
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PHIL 185.001
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Philosophy and Film
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MW 3:00-5:00
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Nunan
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RELS 280.001
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Religion and Film
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W 7:00-9:45
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Siegler
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* Crosslisted with THTR 350.090
† Pre-req: ENGL 212: Cinema History and Criticism
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10/09/06
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Motorcycle Diaries rescheduled for Thursday, October
12 @ 5:00pm
The Department of Hispanic Studies has
rescheduled the screening of Motorcycle Diaries,
the third and final installment in their annual film series. The film was
originally scheduled for October 5, but was cancelled due to a power outage.
The film will be shown in ECTR 118.
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10/09/06
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The
Film Club meets this Wednesday, October 11 @ 7:00pm in Septima Clark Auditorium (Education
Center 118)
This
week’s installment in the ¡Cult Films!
series is Jean-Jacques Beineix’s Diva (France,
1981). The film stars Frédéric Andréi as Jules, an opera enthusiast whose
bootleg recordings of diva Cynthia Hawkins (played by real-life diva,
Wilhemenia Fernandez) get mixed up with a police surveillance recording,
which in turn gets Jules mixed up with the mob. Exciting actions sequences
and award-winning cinematography make Diva
a great film. It’s subject matter—the strange world of the
Parisian underground, the obsessive behavior of a devoted fan—make Diva a cult classic. The film starts at 7:00pm in ECTR 118. As
always, there will be an opportunity for informal discussion afterwards.
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10/08/06
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ChasDoc
2006 ends today
The Charleston Documentary Film Festival ends
today. If you haven’t had a chance to check out any films, do so. You
can download today’s screenings here.
Tonight, ChasDoc makes the move to Folly Beach for Lost Jewel of the
Atlantic (2006), produced by Beetleswamp Productions
and Save the Waves Coalition.
I’m a huge fan of surf films, so you can count me in. And what better
place to view a great film about surfing, about preserving the natural beauty
of our planet, than Folly Beach? Well, Santa Cruz would be better. But, Folly
Beach is nice too. In the immortal words of Edmund O’Brien,
“it’ll do.” Just take Folly Rd. until you can’t take
it any further, then follow the signs to the Film Festival. Stick around
afterwards for the ChasDoc closing party, which will begin at 9:25.
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10/05/06
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ChasDoc
2006 kick-off party is today
The Charleston Documentary Film Festival’s
opening party is tonight at the Navy
Yard at Noisette, from 6:00pm to 11:00pm. Be sure to join in for an
evening of films, music, cocktails, art, friends and fun. Festival screenings
begin Friday, October 6 at 5:30pm. For a full list of films, times,
locations, as well as other information, visit the ChasDoc website.
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10/01/06
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The
Film Club meets this Wednesday, October 4 @ 7:00pm in Septima Clark
Auditorium (Education Center 118)
This week’s installment in the ¡Cult Films!
series is Bruce Robinson’s Withnail & I (1987).
The film stars Richard E. Grant (Withnail) and Paul McGann (I) as two failing
actors living in a squalid flat in late-sixties Camden and desperately
seeking employment and booze (mostly booze…well, only booze). Withnail & I is the quintessential
cult film. It’s twisted, obscure, chock full of quotable lines, and,
most importantly, it’s got a small but incredibly devoted following.
There are several fansites, multimedia archives and blogs devoted to the film
(check out this site). Best of
all, it’s just cracking good—arguably one of the funniest British
films of all time. The film starts at 7:00pm in ECTR 118. As always, there
will be an opportunity for informal discussion afterwards. Prepare yourself.
Then join us.
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9/25/06
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New
links added to the links page
Check them out here. And
don’t forget the older links—especially this one.
It’s a link to a film blog that comes highly recommended.
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9/17/06
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The College
of Charleston Film Club meets this Wednesday, September 20
On Wednesday, September 20, the Film
Club will be screening Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976).
The film, which begins at 7:00 pm in ECTR 118, will kick off a semester-long
series devoted to Cult Films (see 9/12/06 announcement below). Be sure to
join us.
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9/17/06
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Still another film festival announcement!
Yes, it’s a hat trick. 3 film
festival announcements in one day. The third festival is the 2007 Beaufort
Film Festival, scheduled to take place February 22-24, 2007. Complete
festival info is forthcoming, so keep an eye on the website for the
latest.
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9/17/06
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Annoucing
ChasDoc—the Charleston Documentary Film Festival, Oct. 5-8
ChasDoc is a not-for-profit
organization created in February of this year. Its mission is to reach out to
the Charleston community and provide information on how to produce
documentary films that deal with issues of local and global concern such as
the environment and human rights. The festival, which will cover 44 films in
four days, takes place in a variety of venues, including downtown Charleston,
the Navy Yard at Noisette in North Charleston, and Folly Beach. For more
information, visit the ChasDoc website
or send your questions to Justin Nathanson,
executive director. Want to volunteer?
ChasDoc needs you!
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9/17/06
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The
Department of Hispanic Studies announces its Annual Film Festival
All films will be screened at 5:00pm
in ECTR 118. The films for this year’s festival are: Machuca (dir.
Andrés Wood, 2004), which will be screened at on Thursday, September 21. The
film dramatizes, through the eyes of two young boys, the coup of
Chile’s democratically elected president, Salvador Allende in 1973; Habana Blues
(dir. Benito Zambrano, 2005), which will be screened on Thursday, September
28. This film tells the story of two young Cuban musicians who, after signing
with a U.S. record label, are told that if they want to be successful, they
must include anti-Cuban messages in their songs; and The Motorcycle Diaries
(dir. Walter Salles, 2004), which will be screened on Thursday, October 5.
This award-winning film depicts the short but life-changing motorcycle trip
that Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, later Che Guevara, the Cuban revolutionary,
took through South America. There will be an opportunity, after each film,
for brief discussion. The films are free and open to the public. The series
is sponsored by the Department of Hispanic Studies, the Language Resource
Center, and the Spanish Club.
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9/13/06
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Poet/author/filmmaker
Sherman Alexie to speak in Physician’s Auditorium Wednesday, September
20.
Alexie is the author of Reservation Blues (1995) and several
collections of short stories and poetry, including Indian Killer (1996) and Dangerous
Astronomy (2005). He directed The
Business of Fancydancing, a film based on his collection of poems by the
same title. He also adapted the screenplay to his highly acclaimed short
story collection, The Lone Ranger and
Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1993). The film was released by Miramax under
the title Smoke Signals in 1999 and
won the Independent Spirit Award, as well as the Audience Award at Sundance.
For more info about Sherman Alexie, you can visit his website here.
Alexie is not just a gifted storyteller, he is a damn funny guy. Please join
us Wednesday, September 20 in Physician’s Auditorium at 6:00pm. The
talk is sponsored by the President’s Speaker Series.
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9/12/06
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The
College of Charleston Film Club announces its Fall film series
The Film Club plans to begin its next
film series next week. This Fall’s series is devoted to the cult
film—a film that has a small but devoted following. Unlike most cult
films series, however, the Film Club’s Cult Film Series includes films
that are so obscure, so unusual that they haven’t even found a cult
(yet!). Along with the more familiar titles, such as Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, Jim Jarmusch’s Mystery Train and Sam Peckinpah’s
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
are small oddities such as Todd Haynes’s banned animated short film, Superstar: the Karen Carpenter Story,
Jayne Loader’s and Kevin Rafferty’s campy documentary The Atomic Café, and Bruce
Robinson’s Withnail and I.
You can check out the screening schedule here (just click
on the poster to learn more about a film).
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8/25/06
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OK Go
Yes, I know, this page is supposed to be
devoted to news. But not since Fatboy Slim’s “Weapon of Choice,”
starring Christopher Walken, have I so thoroughly enjoyed a music video, so I
am posting a link to OK Go’s “Here it Goes
Again.” OK Go will be performing the treadmill dance on
MTV’s Video Music Awards.
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8/22/06
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English
212: Cinema History and Criticism screenings schedule
All films are shown in Education
Center (ECTR) 118 at 7:00 pm.
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7/7/06
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Dudley
Andrew to speak at the College of Charleston
Andrew is the R. Seldon Rose Professor
of Film and Comparative Literature and the Director of Graduate Studies in
the Film Studies Program at Yale University. He is the author of numerous
books on film, including The Major Film
Theories, Concepts in Film Theory,
and Andre Bazin. His most recent
work includes Mists of Regret: Culture
and Sensibility in Classic French Film, The Image in Dispute, and Popular
Front Paris and the Poetics of Culture. This year, Andrew was elected as
a Fellow to the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences. Andrew will speak on Thursday, August 31 at 5:30pm in Wachovia
Auditorium, Beatty Center. His talk is entitled "A Cinema to
Discover," and it takes as its subject the prevailing idea that the
cinema, in this digital audio-visual culture, is in decline. Andrew will
address, by going through the territory of traditional film theory, how the
cinema, in particular the feature film, is still on its never-ending voyage
of discovery. Download a copy of the flyer here.
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6/08/06
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Peter
Wentworth to teach at the College of Charleston
Wentworth, a nationally recognized
independent filmmaker and producer (Metropolitan,
The Dream Catcher, My Sister’s Wedding), will be
teaching in the Arts Management Program in the Fall 2006 semester. The
course, entitled “Entrepeneurial Arts Management,” will focus on
managing film projects, commercial galleries and book publishing. How
exciting is this? Just ask Paul Myers-Davis, who interned with Wentworth in
2005. College of Charleston Magazine
writes that Myers-Davis’s internship with Wentworth “opened his
eyes in ways he didn’t expect.” Wentworth is a part-time resident
of Charleston and has written on Charleston’s little-known history as a
mecca for early twentieth-century filmmaking.
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4/18/06
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Update:
Film Courses for Summer 2006
Interested in taking a film course
over the summer? Well, click here for
a short list of what’s available.
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4/10/06
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Eisenstein’s
classic Battleship Potemkin to be
screened during Piccolo Spoleto
Come and see one of the most important
films of the 20th century, Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin (1925). The film
will be screened outdoors in Marion Square, Sunday May 28 at 9:00pm, with the
Charleston Symphony Orchestra and member of the Piccolo Conservatory
Orchestra performing Dimitri Shostakovich’s original score. Don’t
miss this event—it’s montage of attractions, Soviet style! For
more info, click here.
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4/09/06
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The
College of Charleston Film Club meets this Thursday, April 13
After a well-deserved break after the
immensely successful 1st Annual Student Film Festival on March 30,
the Film Club will reconvene for its second-to-last screening this Thursday
at 7:00pm in Maybank 107. We will be watching Junebug (dir.
Phil Morrison). This is the story of an art dealer from Chicago named
Madeleine (played by Embeth Davidtz) who travels to North Carolina to stay
with her husband’s in-laws while she tracks down a local artist.
Madeleine begins to discover in this seemingly stereotypical Southern
American family something far more complex and morally ambiguous. Not your
standard “Northerner versus Southerner” film.
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3/30/06
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Update:
Film Courses for Maymester and Fall 2006
Interested in taking a film course or
two next Fall? Next Maymester? Well, click here for a sample of what’s
available! All courses count towards the Film Studies minor. Contact me, the Film
Studies advisor, for more info.
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3/30/06
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The 1st
Annual College of Charleston Student Film Festival is TONIGHT!!!
Join us tonight in ECTR 118 at 7:00 pm for an
informative discussion of student filmmaking, followed by films by College of
Charleston students. You can download a flyer here.
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3/26/06
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Cougar Activities Board presents free flicks at the American
Theater and South Windemere Cinemas
Chick Flick Week - March 27-29
Monday, March 27 - The Notebook
Tuesday, March 28 -
Brown Sugar
Wednesday, March 29
- Love Actually
These movies will
start at 7 pm @ the American Theater - 446 King St.
Sneak Peek - American
Dreamz - April 4
You've seen the
previews of this new film starring Mandy Moore, Hugh Grant and Dennis Quaid here
CAB will be
sponsoring a FREE advanced screening of this movie at the South Windmere
Theater on James Island: South Windmere Cinemas—94 Folly Road Blvd
(843) 571-2346 You can pick up your free passes at the Stern
Center Info Desk from now until they're gone!
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3/21/06
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The 1st
Annual College of Charleston Student Film Festival is coming…
Join us March 30th in ECTR 118 at 7:00 pm
for an informative discussion of student filmmaking, followed by original
films by College of Charleston students. You can download a flyer here.
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3/21/06
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The Italian
Program at the College of Charleston presents the Italian Film Festival 2006:
New Italian Cinema
This year the Italian Festival is being held on March
27-28 in Sottile Theater. You can download a full program list here. In addition to
screenings of films by a number of interesting and talented contemporary
Italian filmmakers, the festival will include introductory remarks by Dr.
Rita Venturelli, Director of the Italian Cultural Institue in Washington,
D.C., and a talk by Stephania Lucamante, Associate Professor of Italian and
Comparative Literature at Catholic University, Washington, D.C. The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.
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3/19/06
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The College
of Charleston Film Club meets this Thursday, March 23
On Thursday, March 16 at 7:00 pm, the
Film Club will be showing the critically acclaimed independent film, The Squid and the Whale
(dir. Noah Baumbach, 2005). It is Brooklyn, 1986, and the Berkman family is
collapsing. As Joan (Laura Linney) and Bernard (Jeff Daniels) drag each other
through a bitter divorce, they become more and more consumed by rage and
resentment. Meanwhile their two young boys, Walt and Frank, try to cope in
their own, peculiar ways. Cheerless but genuine, this film will not fail to
move you.
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3/12/06
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The College
of Charleston Film Club meets this Thursday, March 16
On Thursday, March 16 at 7:00 pm, the
Film Club will be screening Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs (USA,
1992). Tarantino’s first feature length film garnered a nomination for
the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 1992. Although it did not win, the film
had an immediate impact on films and filmmaking in America. Few directors
have been imitated so quickly and so widely. The screening is part of the
Groundbreaking Films of World Cinema series, but it is also our tribute to
the late Chris Penn, who died January 24th of this year. Join us
in a new room, ECTR 118.
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3/07/06
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“Amadeus,
Amadeus”
On Tuesday, March 14, the College of Charleston
Film Club will be presenting Milos Forman’s Academy-Award winning film,
Amadeus (1984). Based
on Peter Shaffer’s successful play, the film is a dramatization of the
last ten years of Mozart’s life. The jealous Salieri (played by F.
Murray Abraham), haunted as much by Mozart’s music as he is by his
infantile behavior and filthy mouth, plans to get his revenge on an unjust
God by destroying the genius composer (played by Tom Hulce). Beautifully photographed
and full of fine performances. Music ain’t bad either. The screening,
which is part of The Age of Mozart, the College-wide celebration of
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s 250th birthday, is at 7:00pm in
the Stern Center Ballroom. Come see the film, and then return to the Stern
Center Ballroom at 3:15 pm on Thursday, March 16, for a roundtable discussion
of Shaffer’s play and Forman’s film. The panel will include me,
Richard Bodek (Department of History), Bill Gudger (Department of Music),
Caroline Hunt (Department of English), and Allen Lyndrup (Department of
Theater). Students from the Department of Theater will be performing excerpts
from Allen Lyndrup’s new play, “Wolfie.” There will also be
film and video clips. You can learn more about Mozart, and Charleston during
the Age of Mozart, by visiting here.
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2/24/06
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REMINDER:
the entry deadline for the 1st Annual Student Film Festival is
March 1st.
Do you have a film? Know a fellow
student who has a film? Get it to us! Submissions must be in DVD or VHS
format and should be accompanied by the submission form, available here.
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2/20/06
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The College
of Charleston Film Club meets this Thursday, February 23
As part of its ongoing series,
Groundbreaking Films in World Cinema, the Film Club will present John
Schlesinger’s Midnight Cowboy (1969).
Based on the novel by James Leo Hirlihy. Highlighted by stunning performances
by Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voigt (both received Oscar nominations for Best Actor),
this film was condemned for its explicit depiction of the New York underworld
of street hustling. But there’s no denying that beneath the grit and
grime lies a very moving tale of love, loyalty, and redemption. Winner of the
Academy Award for Best Picture of the Year, Best Director, and Best Adapted
Screenplay. Join us in Maybank 107 at 7:00pm.
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2/13/06
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The
College of Charleston Film Club Road Trip!
The Film Club will be going to the Full Frame Documentary Festival,
April 7-9th in Durham, North Carolina, one of the premier documentary fests
in the nation. The club will be able to cover almost all costs of attending,
depending on the number of people who show interest. If enough people show
interest in going, you might be looking at $50 or less for a student pass,
travel expenses and hotel. Pretty good deal.
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2/13/06
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The College
of Charleston Film Club meets this Thursday, February 16
The Film Club will discuss the
upcoming Student Film Festival
(March 30). If you’re a Film Club member, or just someone interested in
learning more about the Festival, please join us at 7:00 pm in Maybank 107.
We could use your help!
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2/07/06
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The 16th
Annual Bonterra Lowcountry Blues Bash: February 10-19
The Charleston County Public Library
is hosting this year’s Blues Bash, which includes live performances by
artists such as Big Ron Hunter, Jonathan Kalb, Eddie Kirkland, and others. In
addition, two terrific documentary films will be screened. The first is Mandy
Stein’s 2002 documentary on Mississippi backwoods bluesmen, You See Me Laughin’.
The film will be shown February 15 at 6:30pm. The second film is Christine
Hall’s 1989 documentary on great women blues performers, Wild Women Don’t
Have the Blues. This film will be shown February 16 at 6:30pm.
Both films will be screened in the Main Library Auditorium (68 Calhoun St.).
For more information, you can visit the Blues Bash website here.
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2/05/06
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The College
of Charleston Film Club is sponsoring a screening of Capote this Thursday, February 9
Taking a break from the Groundbreaking
Films of World Cinema series, the Film Club will be meeting at the Regal
Charles Towne Square in North Charleston (2401 Mall Drive). The film starts
at 7:10pm. The Club has $50 to contribute to group tickets, and it is asking
for people to show up by 6:50. Directed by Bennett Miller, this film is
nominated for 5 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Actor (Philip
Seymour Hoffman).
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1/28/06
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The College
of Charleston Film Club meets again Thursday, February 2
This week’s installment in the
Groundbreaking Films of World Cinema series is Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali (India,
1955). This is Ray’s first film and it is also the first film in what
is commonly known as the “Apu Trilogy” (Aparajito and The World of
Apu complete the trilogy in 1956 and 1959, respectively). Ray is
India’s first internationally recognized filmmaker, and Sight and Sound’s critics’
poll placed Pather Panchali in the
top ten films of all time. The film, based on
the book by Bibhutibhushan Banerjee, tells the very moving story
of a Brahmin family
struggling to make ends meet at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Beautifully photographed by Subrata Mitra, with music by Ravi Shankar. Join us
this Thursday at 7:00pm in Maybank 107.
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1/26/06
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Announcement
update: the 29th Carolina Film & Video Festival
The official
schedule has been announced for the 29th Annual Carolina
Film Festival & Video Festival, February 22-25. Not only did the
organizers receive more submissions than anticipated, the competition is
“tougher than ever.” This year, the Festival has partnered with
Carousel Cinemas to celebrate Winners’ Night (February 25). Competitive
screenings will be held at the University of North Carolina at
Greensboro’s Elliot University Center (February 22-24). The festival
also features workshops and presentations exploring the many aspects of
filmmaking, featuring judges Steve Clements, Charles Kanganis, and Matt
Lendach. And be sure to catch the 2006 Distinguished North Carolina Filmmaker
Ross McElwee who will be screening his critically acclaimed film, Bright
Leaves February 24. The
screening will be followed by a question and answer session. For more
information, call the Carolina Film and Video Festival, (336) 334-4197.
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1/25/06
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Actor
Chris Penn, dead at age 40
Best known for his role as Nice
Guy Eddie Cabot in Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs (1992),
Penn appeared in over 50 films, including Short Cuts (dir. Robert
Altman, 1993) and Mulholland Falls (dir. Lee Tamahori, 1996). Despite living in
the shadow of his talented older brother, Sean, Chris Penn managed to
distinguish himself with consistently strong performances—especially as
Chez Tempio in The Funeral (dir. Abel Farrera, 1997), perhaps his finest
role.
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1/23/06
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The College
of Charleston Film Club meets again Thursday, January 26
This week’s installment in the
Groundbreaking Films of World Cinema series is Rainer Werner
Fassbinder’s The Marriage of Maria Braun (Germany,
1979). One of the leading figures in das
neue Kino (New German Cinema), Fassbinder helped re-establish in the eyes
of the world the legitimacy of German cinema with this, his most remarkable
work. At turns tragic, comic, and melodramatic, The Marriage of Maria Braun tells the story of a young woman
determined to maintain her dignity and independence as she struggles to
survive in the rubble of postwar Berlin. Says Fassbinder of his craft,
“I don’t want to create realism the way it’s usually done
in films. It’s a collision between film and the subconscious that
creates a new realism. If my films are right, then a new realism comes about
in the head, which changes the social reality.” Join us Thursday at
7:00pm in Maybank 107.
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1/17/06
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The College
of Charleston Film Club meets again Thursday, January 19
This week’s film is Spike
Lee’s controversial Do the Right Thing (USA,
1989). 1990 winner of several Film Critics awards, including Chicago, Los
Angeles, and New York. The release of this film was a watershed moment in
African-American cinema. Of Lee and Do
the Right Thing, writer/director Paul Schrader has said: “Art
doesn’t need to be responsible. Art can be incendiary. Art can be
inflammatory. Spike has been held to an extraordinary level of
responsibility, and he has risen to it. Which was more than we should ever
ask of any artist, and to his great credit that he did.” Join us at 7:00 pm in Maybank 107.
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1/17/06
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Film
Movement at the Charleston County Public Library
Did you know that the CCPL participates in a critically
acclaimed nationwide DVD-of-the-month club? Film Movement
selects 12 films a year—usually small, but exciting independent
features that have caught the attention of audiences at the world’s top
film festivals—and then distributes them to film clubs, libraries,
schools, and museums around the country. It’s a wonderful resource that
can bring a film-hungry community like Charleston together. Join the movement
this February 7 at 7:00pm at the CCPL’s Main Branch (68 Calhoun St.)
for a screening of Anytown,
U.S.A. (dir.
Kristian Fraga, 2005).
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1/11/06
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The
College of Charleston Film Club will meet Thursday, January 12
It’s another installment in the
Groundbreaking Films in World Cinema series. This week the Film Club will be
screening Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde
(USA, 1967), starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. Truly groundbreaking
for its time, this film, perhaps more than any other, changed the way movies
were made in America. Says director Arthur Penn, “What was happening at
that time in Hollywood was that enormous power had developed upon the directors
because the studio system had kind of collapsed. We were really running it,
so we could introduce this new perception of how to make another kind of
movie.” Join us this Thursday n6ght at 7:00pm in Maybank 107.
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1/08/06
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English
351: Studies in American Film screenings schedule
All
films are shown Tuesdays @ 7pm in ECTR 118. Date and location subject to
change.
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1/08/06
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Announcing
the 1st Annual College of Charleston Student Film Festival, March
30 2006!
Got a film? Got an idea for a film? Start shooting
now, because the 1st Annual CofC Student film festival wants you!
Click here to learn all the exciting details and
to download the application form. Entries are due March 1, 2006.
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